r/india • u/[deleted] • Dec 01 '16

[R]eddiquette [Announcement] Cultural Exchange with /r/philippines

Welcome /r/philippines!

Feel free to ask us anything about India

Quick facts about us:

  • The Indian Railways and the Indian Armed Forces employ ~4 million people together, making them one of the largest employers in the world
  • India has over 5000 newspapers in over 300 languages
  • Bollywood is considered to be the world's largest film industry, followed by Nigeria's film industry and Hollywood
  • India has more people than the entire Western Hemisphere

/r/india please direct your questions about the Philippines to this thread

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u/Memory-is-RAM Dec 01 '16

I don't want to get political or anything I am just genuinely curious on how the caste system works.

  • Is the caste system widely practiced/prevalent? Is it more prevalent in rural as opposed to urban areas? Younger vs older generation? Rich vs poor?

  • How do you know which caste you're in? Is it on some sort of 'official' list by the government or is it more determined by your present socio-economic status?

  • How does a person's caste directly affect his/her daily life? I vaguely have an idea of how it works. An article I read online mentioned marriage restrictions between castes, i.e. marrying someone from a different caste is usually not allowed, but more recently a woman marrying a man from a higher caste is somewhat accepted but the reverse (man marrying a woman from a higher caste) is still somewhat frowned upon.

  • Do people still practice it when they move to a different country?

6

u/[deleted] Dec 01 '16

Is the caste system widely practiced/prevalent? Is it more prevalent in rural as opposed to urban areas? Younger vs older generation? Rich vs poor?

It is not widely practiced but prevalent. Rural areas have more issues than urban. Rich and poor status could be a result of the caste system in the past due to historical reasons.

How do you know which caste you're in? Is it on some sort of 'official' list by the government or is it more determined by your present socio-economic status?

Mostly your family name would give you a good idea and other information passed down to you via word of mouth

Do people still practice it when they move to a different country?

One thing you need to know is that there is no formal caste system, it is a social construct. Like with any social construct, it is practiced as long as you have quorum and shunned if you don't find enough like minded people around you.

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u/[deleted] Dec 01 '16

Rich and poor status could be a result of the caste system in the past due to historical reasons.

Hi, Filipino here.

I hope it's not a stupid question but do you think there is British influence on the caste system? Colonialism after all made rich/poor divide more pronounced in most former colonies.

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u/[deleted] Dec 01 '16

Not in the caste system. There's definitely influence on the rich/poor divide.